Marketing is a services or ideas to create exchange between individuals and organizations and it is an ongoing process of planning and executing the marketing mix (Product, Price, Place, and Promotion) for products. Two major factors of marketing are the recruitment of new customers and the retention and expansion of relationships with existing customers.
The activities of a company associated with buying and selling a product or service is nothing but marketing.It includes advertising, selling and delivering products to people. People who work in marketing departments of companies try to get the attention of target audiences by using slogans, packaging design, celebrity endorsements and general media exposure.
Many people believe that marketing is just about advertising or sales. However, marketing is everything a company does to acquire customers and maintain a relationship with them. Even the small tasks like writing thank-you letters, playing golf with a prospective client, returning calls promptly and meeting with a past client for coffee can be thought of as marketing. The ultimate goal of marketing is to match a company's products and services to the people who need and want them, thereby ensure profitability
Marketing divide into four general sets of activities:
Product: To relate with the end-user's needs and wants the product aspects of marketing deal with the specifications of the actual goods or services. The scope of a product generally includes supporting elements such as warranties, guarantees, and support.
Pricing: This refers to the process of setting a price for a product, including discounts. The price need not be monetary - it can simply be what is exchanged for the product or services, e.g. time, energy, psychology or attention.
Promotion: This includes advertising, sales promotion, publicity, and personal selling, branding and refers to the various methods of promoting the product, brand, or company.
Placement or distribution: refers to how the product gets to the customer; for example, point of sale placement or retailing. Placement has also sometimes been called Place, referring to the channel by which a product or services is sold (e.g. online vs. retail), which geographic region or industry, to which segment (young adults, families, business people), etc.
The four elements are most useful when marketing low value consumer products. Industrial products, services, high value consumer products require adjustments to this model. These four elements are often referred to as the marketing mix, which a marketer can use to craft a marketing plan.
